A mission to get it right...

It's easy to see why Dr Kevin Bond, chief executive of Yorkshire Water, believes in education as passionately as some believe in reincarnation.

The York Waterworks HQ at Lendal Tower

The two are clearly connected. Education has allowed this 48-year-old controversial industrial boss to live a number of different lives and in each of them he has proved to be a resounding success, moving with ease from failed schoolboy to successful university student, from humble police constable to chief superintendent, from head of the water regulators to one of the chiefs of the water regulated.

Now, as his water authority makes a £33 million takeover of York Waterworks (and as he prepares to move into a flat in York with his teacher wife, Susan) he has been able to look back on his "baptism of fire in water" with some satisfaction, but occasional annoyance.

The satisfaction: huge strides have been made since January 1997 when on taking over as new chairman and chief executive in the wake of disastrous public relations during the drought, among his first acts was publicly to apologise for his water authority "getting it wrong".

Getting it right, according to his admirers, has meant many changes, including -

A £1.8 billion investment programme to maintain and improve water and sewage services in the five years up to the year 2000;

Setting up one of the best water distribution systems in Britain, with a massive £200 million investment in pipes and flexibility, creating a water grid for Yorkshire;

Starting a £200 million sewage treatment works for the Hull area - the biggest engineering project of its kind in Europe; plus a £120 million CoastCare programme to build modern treatment works at east coast resorts like Scarborough, Bridlington, Filey and Whitby;

Opening a regional operations and communications centre in Bradford whose 24-hour customer call service handles around 1.4 million calls per year;

Instituting a major leakage programme which by 2000 will have stemmed the drip-away by more than a third - enough to supply the daily needs of a city the size of Leeds;

Developing plans to build Europe's first wood fuels power station at Eggborough, near Selby.

The annoyance? That came when Dr Bond was criticised at last year's annual meeting for accepting a £55,000 bonus on top of his £185,000 salary. Raising the issue again clearly irritates. "The fact is that I came to work for a package which was a salary plus bonus but I declined to take my bonus the first year because I felt it was entirely wrong until the company was actually turning around.

"When it was obvious that this was happening, then I joined the bonus scheme.

"One shareholder questioned aspects, not of the bonus, but of share ownership. I was quite wrong, but I said there was a bit of whingeing . Our shareholders have been extremely good and it was me saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and it comes back once in a while to haunt me. But this is the price you pay for a high profile job."

Clearly Dr Bond learns from his mistakes as he learns from everything. "I believe passionately that education is the way of opening opportunities. I came from a very ordinary background, achieving one O-level at school but working my way up bit by bit."

Headhunters from Yorkshire Water recruited him as managing director of the water company and chief executive of the group.

Now, while he remains overall chief executive, he is chairman of Yorkshire Water Services, with Jonson Cox as its managing director.

The offer to buy York Waterworks Plc makes sense now that he has established his credentials. "It wasn't just the financial aspects - the economics and all that stuff - it was that we could say to the customers of York: look at the direction we are going and at the speed we are doing things. In OFWAT terms we are the fastest-improving water company in Britain and that will continue. Now we can genuinely say to people: We will not let you down."

Pouring cash into new technology

By Tony Seymour, Business Editor

Yorkshire Water emerged on the privatisation scene in November, 1989, following its previous life as a regional water authority.

Prior to its £475.2 million flotation on the Stock Market it was called The Yorkshire Water Authority, one of the ten regional water authorities, created through local government re-organisation in 1974. Current share price values Yorkshire Water at £1.8 billion.

Brandon Gough was appointed chairman of Leeds-based Yorkshire Water in 1996. He replaced Sir Gordon Jones, originally chairman of Yorkshire Water Authority from 1983 until his retirement in 1996.

Other executive directors are: Kevin Bond, chief executive; James Newman, group finance director; and Jonson Cox, managing director, Yorkshire Water Services Ltd. Non-executive directors are: Phil Cox, ex-managing director of Asda; David Perry, formerly chairman of Waddington plc; and Patricia Marsh, previously chairman, Birmingham' Children's Hospital NHS Trust.

The latest major development in the company's on-going programme is the merger of its Waste Management division with the Waste Recycling Group.

Said Howard Cressey, group financial controller: "Yorkshire Water now has a 46 per cent shareholding in the Waste Recycling Group through a reverse takeover," (that is, when a small company takes over a larger one, or when the company being taken over will effectively be the dominant force in the combined group) . "Rather than owning some of those businesses direct, we now have a major interest in a third party plc."

Yorkshire Water posted a pre-tax profit of £205.6 million for the year to March 31, 1998, compared with £215.8 million the previous year - a drop of £10.2 million. Turnover rose by £12.6 million, from £622.8 million to £635.4 million.

The group, which takes in 25 wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Yorkshire Water Services and Yorkshire Environmental Solutions, is investing at a rate of £350 million a year, requiring not just a considerable investment of management time, but also substantially-increased borrowings. Meanwhile the growth in Yorkshire Environmental Solutions has been primarily organic, rather than through acquisitions. Under its new management, it is re-focusing its strategy to become one of Britain's leading environmental service companies. Additional investment, now complete, of more than £200 million to improve the flexibility of the region's water supply network gives the company "one of the most advanced water grids in the UK and significantly reduces the risk of future problems related to the availability of water."

Work is also under way on the group's £120 million Coast Care programme, which includes plans to build modern treatment works, including the latest ultra-violet disinfection, at Yorkshire's popular East coast resorts of Scarborough, Bridlington, Filey and Whitby.

Total spending on improvements to the region's water and waste water services over the next two years equates to over £1 million every day and will mean investment in the 1990s will be double that of the previous decade.

Yorkshire Water Estates, the group's property company, continues its strategy of developing and disposing of surplus group properties. During the last financial year, a number of properties were successfully sold, contributing £6.8 million to group operating profit.

The group's joint venture company with Evans of Leeds continued to develop specific sites, notably York Business Park, Follingsby Park, near Gateshead, and The White Rose Shopping Centre, near Leeds.

Babcock Water Engineering Ltd, Yorkshire Water's 50/50 joint venture with Babcock International, continued to support the water services business investment programme, whilst developing its activities through a number of external contracts.

Yorkshire Water Projects is currently examining a number of opportunities. The Private Finance Initiative provides a potential market in Scotland for the group's core skills and a number of waste water projects are being pursued. The company is also actively committed to the development of renewable energy sources, such as its wood-fuelled power station.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.